Appletun and Oranges
by Darkrealmist v.2
Summary: A special magic bean transports our heroes to a tantalizing kingdom, where they mount an unorthodox goodwill mission.


Appletun and Oranges

Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of _Once Upon a Time_, _Super Mario Odyssey_, or the Pokémon franchise.

Summary:

A special magic bean transports our heroes to a tantalizing kingdom, where they mount an unorthodox goodwill mission.

* * *

Of all the realms he'd been to – enchanting fairy tale locations lifted straight out of picture books and Disney films – a video game world oddly didn't come up during the young lad's adventures.

You'd expect this wouldn't be the case with someone with as active an imagination as Henry Mills, son of the Saviour and the former Evil Queen, yet until this point, the boy's experiences remained largely rooted in the classics, leaning less on comic books and MPORGs, and more on knights and dragons. Save befriending Elsa and Anna of Arendelle, their battles and diplomatic missions seldom involved contemporary stories. He'd all but dismissed ever picking up a hammer and summoning down lightning just for the fun of it.

That changed when Granny swept an unused, unusually coloured magic bean from behind the jukebox at the diner, which Henry promptly plucked off the floor and hurled overhand into the street.

Before either of his moms could object, Henry said buh-bye to Storybrooke and hopped nose-first through the sparking door to the unknown. The identity of Lily's enigmatic absent father would have to be recessed for another time.

Maleficent closed her day ledger containing possible baby daddies, while Zelena shot a dramatic "Ugh!" toward her sister suddenly leaving the fact-gathering committee high and dry, behaviour the Wicked Witch bemoaned resembled the Pirate's.

Emma allowed a humorous though unspoken _mea culpa_ for Killian, then went after Regina and Henry. She found the angrier woman on the arrivals end of the mystic doorway, disciplining their child.

"Henry Daniel Mills, what have I told you about running into strange portals you know nothing about?"

Regina wasn't done scolding, but looked around. "The hell are we?"

Emma's red jacket and Regina's black head-to-toe mayorly affair contrasted strongly against the magenta scenery. The air smelled good, fusing the scents of a block of cheese, slab of meat, and assorted vegetables scattered throughout the burg; each food item, unnaturally giant. Simmering atop a volcano spewing pink magma cooked a stupendous stew.

"I think we're in Luncheon Kingdom!" Henry chirped excitedly.

"Kid?"

"It's an area in _Super Mario Odyssey_!"

"Did you buy him that?" Regina came within a breath of calling her Ms. Swan.

Curious critters in chef hats approached them.

A fireball appeared in Regina's hand. Henry had to convince her to put it away.

"Mom, they live here."

"We're Volbonans!"

"Great!" Regina oozed sarcasm. "The forks speak English!"

"Who are you folk? What brings you to Peronza Plaza? Our famous Cooking Carnival?"

"I'm Henry. These are my moms. A magic bean brought us."

"Hmm…A magic bean, you say? It must've been one from Mount Volbono! That blasted Cookatiel hoarded all the ingredients in the kingdom and hid the rarer stuff in far-off realms! Since our town got liberated by that nice Mario fella, people mistakenly pop up here, like you!"

"There are others?"

"Not anymore. We returned the lost travellers to their lands via the painting on Floating Sky Island. There is, however, a stubborn visitor we Volbonans have been unable to persuade!"

"Perhaps we can be of assistance," Henry proposed without asking his parents. "Heroing is kind of our thing."

"I'll show you where," a cyan Volbonan offered.

The three heroes and helpful volunteer took a Lava Bubble to Salt-Pile Isle, indeed, true to its name, an islet piled with salt.

On the little peninsula crawled a plump, four-legged reptile, grazing the flavourful hill. Its round body was a ripening green over yellow underbelly, thick and fat with pronounced snout and half an apple helmeting its head. What first suggested ears were in actuality flaps concealing its eyes, dragged along the ground. The skin on its back widened into a yummy_ pie crust_, garnished by twin blades of leafage.

"Oh my god!" the teen yipped.

"What is it?" Regina inspected the creature, which emitted a nectarous sweetness. She preferred the fruit's sour variety herself.

"An Appletun!"

"A what?"

"An Appletun! From _Pokémon Shield_!"

"So, uh, what?" Emma seemed at a loss. "Do we catch it in a Poké Ball or something?"

Henry grabbed a fistful of salt, and the gluttonous Pokémon followed the Author with slow steps.

Apples were a tricky theme in his family history. Apple turnover, more personally so. But Henry couldn't _not_ answer the ten-year-old Trainer in him.

"Hey there. You hungry?"

The scarf around Regina's neck might as well be choking her. This was treading uncomfortably close to recycling her son's near-death pastry incident.

Ultimately, Henry's animal proficiency prevailed. The Appletun obediently lumbered aboard a different Lava Bubble, and they bounced onward to Floating Sky Island. Once there, the Truest Believer laid breadcrumb-sized pinches of salt, _Hansel and Gretel_-style, coaxing the monster onto the framed warp hole and sending it home to the Pokémon world.

Thanking their Volbonan guide, Emma, Regina, and Henry employed the same shortcut, jumping over to Storybrooke.

"Back already?" Zelena hadn't deserted the table. "Have an apple tart."

Emma and Regina passed. Henry laughed.


End file.
